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Day 10 - KWM 2024 This Is Not An Advent Calendar - Caisteal Chamuis 12 Year Blended Malt

Posted on December 10, 2024

*NOTE: If you have one of our Not An Advent Calendar Tastings set or kit and did not receive the email for the Day 6-10 Virtual Recap tasting that will take place on the evening of Tuesday, December 10th, please let me know. 

 

Day 10 — Caisteal Chamuis 12 Year Blended Malt

By Evan

After a brief foray into dense and decadent old sherry cask whisky, we are back on the peat again for today’s dram. Today, we will be tasting the Caisteal Chamuis 12 Year Blended Malt.

(Mysterious indeed! Truth in advertising, found at the Caisteal Chamuis homepage.)

Caisteal Chamuis? What the heck is that? And more importantly, how the heck do you pronounce it? — you might rightfully be thinking. Don't worry because you are not alone. I have referred to this bottle as the Castle Shamwow 12-Year-Old more often than not.

(This Picture is definitely not endorsed by either product.)

Here is what the producer has to say:

“Caisteal Chamuis draws inspiration from the historic ruins of Castle Camus, just beyond Torabhaig distillery’s doors. This collection of peated blended malt Scotch whiskies captures the rugged, smoky essence of the Hebrides, weaving stories of the region’s legendary past into every bottle. With rich, robust flavours of peat smoke, Caisteal Chamuis invites whisky lovers to explore the deep, mysterious character of Scotland’s island malts.”

So, it actually means Castle Camus. Got it. If only they could have just put that name on the bottle. The problem is, they can’t go around putting “Camus” on the label of this whisky. There is a famous Cognac house founded back in 1863 that would take issue with that. Being French, Camus in that case is actually pronounced “Ka-moo”.

(To The Right s a YouTube video talking about its pronunciation)

So, with that straightforward name being verboten (because why not toss some German into this mess just for fun), other whisky name ideas had to be discussed. Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know that Caisteal Chamuis (Castle Camus) is also referred to as Knock Castle. Sounds like it would be a cool whisky name, right? But I imagine the worry of name disputes with Knockdhu Distillery and Knockando Distillery nixed that idea.

So, what to do? When in doubt, go Scots Gaelic! The next idea must have been to simply go with the Gaelic version of the name. Back to Caisteal Chamuis it is! 

Ahh, the wonder’s of regional dialect! There you have it. Of course the name would be pronounced Castle Hamus and not Castle Shamwow. How silly of me.

Back to this Shamwow Castle. Caisteal Chamuis is the site of great significance in Scottish History. The ruins are on the southern coast, east side of the Isle of Skye near Torabhaig Distillery. The first buildings were put up in the 1200s, and it became a fort and castle over the next 300 years or so. Caisteal Chamuis was a highly contested location in feuds between Clan MacLeod and Clan MacDonald. Caisteal Chamuis is now but a ruin, with only a few columns of stone work remaining as an indicator of what once stood.

(Thanks, Google!)

Beyond the strange name, what is this whisky all about, and why is in our This is Not An Advent Calendar? Well…

  • Caisteal Chamuis 12-Year-Old is a Blended Malt Scotch composed of single malt whisky sourced from both Islay and Orkney. The heavily peated blended malt was finished in First Fill Oloroso Sherry Butts before being bottled at 46%.
  • It is in the Not An Advent Calendar because we are very impressed with the quality and value this whisky represents.

The whisky is put together by Mossburn Distillers, who also own the young Isle of Skye Distillery Torabhaig.

Let’s give the Shamwow whisky a taste!

Caisteal Chamuis 12 Year Blended Malt - 46%

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Full of honey and marzipan aromas, along with ocean waves crashing against coastal rocks, salted toffee, poached pears, rum raisin pie, and a hint of smoked Havarti cheese.

Palate: Like a saltier version of a Cadbury Crunchie Bar. Chocolate, more salted toffee, sponge toffee, Dutch licorice, peaches and cream, chamomile tea with honey, and a few wine gums.

Finish: Surprisingly fresh and light. There is some lingering smoke and coastal notes and light fruit, but it is a remarkably soft finish.

Comment: Sure, it is smoky and coastal, but it is also a well-balanced and refreshing dram. With all the big and burly (and often expensive) peated bottles out there, it is nice to see that values like this can still be found.

Can't find this whisky or remember the name? Just search for Shamwow Whisky on our website. It will come up. No need to thank me.

See you tomorrow for Day 11!

Cheers,
Evan

Playing catch-up on our 2024 This Is Not An Advent Calendar?

You can find the rest of the blog posts here!

This entry was posted in Whisky, Tastings, Whisky Calendars, Tastings - Online Tasting, KWM 2024 Not An Advent Calendar Tastings

 

 

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